Don’t Follow Your Passion…Do This Instead

Don’t follow your passion!

There I said it.

But wait…

Why?

And what should you do instead?

Well let’s see here…

This whole “follow your passion” is a tricky subject isn’t it?

So today we’re gonna dig in and talk about one of the best tools that we use with our coaching clients when dealing with this advice when it comes to finding a job they love.

The tool we use is called “reframing”.

“Reframing” is a technique that we use in design thinking (and our Design Your Dream Work program) to look at problems from a different angle or perspective to uncover better solutions.

Here is a really basic example so you can get the gist of the idea.

If I ask you what the sum of 5+5 is you would easily give me the answer….10!

But what if I asked you what two numbers add up to 10?

Plenty of answers come up don’t they?

The first question is framed in a way to only have one solution.

In the second question we reframed the problem in a way that allows us to expand our thinking to come up with an almost infinite number of solutions.

We can use this reframing technique when trying to solve almost any problem but in this example let’s use it to help us with this whole “find and follow your passion” thing.

You see the problem with passion is that the common way of thinking or the advice that you received is often structured in a way that can lead to anxiety, frustration and often times the failure to make progress on your quest to find a job that you love.

The common advice or implied methodology is to “find and follow your passion” and everything else will fall into place.

Well I’m here to tell you that oftentimes that isn’t the case.

As a matter of fact I think the whole way that passion fits into the equation is much different.

Let me explain.

Like I said above the problem begins with the advice to START  THE PROCESS with “following or finding your passion” to figure out the answer you seek (a job that you love and are passionate about).

This advice is riddled with problems but let’s take a look at a few.

One BIG problem is that most people simply don’t have a pre-existing passion to follow.

As a matter fact the research says that only 20% of the population has a pre-existing passion that they can rely on and analyze to even consider doing work around.

That means 8 out of 10 people do NOT have a passion that they can start with.

Do you see the problem here?

When the process is structured this way we are starting with a built in 80% failure rate.

If you are in that 80% is this a process that you would rely on?

Doubt it. 

So are you then out of luck and doomed to a life of miserable jobs because you don’t have a preexisting passion?

I think not.

You just need a different process…with better odds of success.

Now what about the opposite end of the spectrum?

The 20% that actually do have a preexisting passion?

Well they are faced with an entirely different set of problems when they START with passion.

These people more than likely do not just have one passion to work with and begin to analyze.

There are plenty of us out there that have multiple passions.

The problem here is that the people with multiple passions are faced with deciding on “the one” passion that they want to follow.

Another problem is the assumption that one or more of these passions would actually turn into a job they love or that it is even a valid business idea.

Faced with so many choices often times this leads us to “analysis paralysis”, frustration and ultimately doing nothing at all.

Doesn’t sound like a very promising option does it?

So my argument is this.

I don’t think we should START with passion.

Now let me be clear before I go on.

Passion is very important when it comes to doing the work you love.

I mean we all want to do work that we are passionate about right?

We wall want a job or career that engages us, that fulfills us, and has a tremendous amount of meaning to us.

Without a doubt it is a goal that we should all try to achieve.

No one wants to feel disengaged, unfulfilled, or that their job or career has no real meaning.

So what I am saying here is that we all want the OUTCOME of being passionate about what we do.

So if that’s the case my argument is that passion is the outcome we are seeking not the question we should start with.

And if passion is the OUTCOME then we should be starting with a very different question.

Maybe we should start with a question that asks what leads us to being passionate about the work we do and not what passion make a good occupation.

More specifically the question is “what elements of a job or career do I need to become passionate about my work?”

By simply reframing the question that surrounds how we find passionate work we can start to look at it from a different perspective.

The difference is subtle but powerful!

Now most people don’t do this at all when it comes to their job or career.

Most people don’t even ask themselves what they need from a job or career that would make them fulfilled, engaged, and ultimately passionate about what they do.

They simply take the job as it comes without even considering whether or not the position has some or all of the elements that could lead them to work that they love.

Do you see how powerful this can be?

If you ask yourself what you need from a job or career that would make you passionate about it I bet you can come up with a list of things.

As a matter of fact some of you will come up with a very long list of things.

That is exactly the point of reframing the question.

It gives us a whole new perspective that allows to diverge our thinking into multiple possible solutions based on the insight into the things that you really want when it comes to finding work that you love.

But if I ask you what you are passionate about that you can do as a job or career if you are like most people you just freeze!

That’s because you are have framed it in a way that implies it only has one solution (remember the 5+5 example above?)

See the difference?

So try it out.

Ask yourself what you want out of a job that you think would make you more passionate about the work that you do.

What would you need to really LOVE your work?

What would you say?

You may say something like “I want to make impact with a certain group of people”.

Or you may say “I want to have autonomy. I want to make my own choices and do my own thing”.

You may also say “I want to use my creativity at it’s highest level”.

Or you may say that you would need a mission driven company with strong culture to really feel truly passionate about what you do.

Whatever your answers are make sure that you are honest and true to yourself.

So what would you say?

What is on your list?

All of your answers are now starting to paint a picture.

The picture that’s forming is the work you are passionate about doing and its based on the things that you know down deep inside that you would need to have in do the work that you love to do!

Congratulations!

You are now on your way to doing what most people never even consider.

Articulating the things you need in order to create your Dream Work!

Can you see how powerful the tool of reframing can be now?

I hope so because it can lead to some very valuable insights that will definitely help you on your journey to ultimately finding your dream work.

P.S. If you do use this technique and get some new insights into your passions please tell us about by leaving a comment below or on our Facebook page HERE!